Up in Flames
by coldcrafter
Summary: Hanna Ferris has always questioned happiness. But she finally thinks she has found it: money, a hot fiancé, a loyal best friend and anything she could ever want, her life comes tumbling down with a sudden realization: she's in love with someone who is not her fiancé. Includes The Pack and many other MCYTers.
1. Chapter 1

(Keep in mind that I am not from Australia, so I don't know all the facts. Anything Australia related is probably common knowledge or off of google)

I never thought love would be subtle. I thought that love would sallow me whole the minute I saw the one and BAM YOU'RE IN LOVE. But I was wrong. I was so wrong. Love crept up on me. It took me over bit by bit. Love pulled me down like quicksand and left me with a pit that could only be filled by that certain someone. And it wasn't with who I thought it would have been. This is the tale of how I found the true love of my life: Lachlan Reyes.

It all started with my phone and my clumsy self. I had opened up YouTube and made a beeline for my favourite YouTuber's channel. On Youtube, he went by CraftBattleDuty, but his real name was Lachlan. He had messy blonde hair, a crooked smile and gorgeous blue eyes. Like me, he was Australian and was the butt of most jokes. I always thought of him as a best friend I had never talked too.

I scrolled through his latest uploads which I had already seen, but there's always that one video that was either, so good you have to watch it fifty times and show it to everyone you know, or you were half asleep and wouldn't remember it if you watched it again. Anyways, being the klutz I was, I managed to accidentally throw my phone. Don't ask how one accidentally throws their phone, it just happens when you're me. I threw my phone and in an attempt to catch it I swatted it out of midair. My phone sailed towards my other hand and after fumbling around, I finally got a grip on it. This is why I was not a professional volleyball player. That, and I was a bit on the lazy side.

With all the throwing of phones that had happened, I had managed to open up his subscriptions. I was about to go back to his videos when something caught my eye. I saw the icon for my YouTube channel. Lachlan subscribed to me?

My YouTube channel had almost ten thousand subscribers and had an obvious theme: Fire. My username was Reign of Fire, I called my fans Flames, my Minecraft skin was a gender bent version of Leo Valdez from Heroes of Olympus and I even had my hair died to resemble flames. Basically, if you could make something flame related, it was.

Anyways, I screen-shotted the evidence that he watched my videos and went to brag about it on Instagram. I checked my notifications out of habit and guess what? He followed me. On a hunch, I checked Twitter and sure enough, he followed me there too. But that wasn't all. He had _messaged_ me, asking if I wanted to record _together_.

Having just found out that my favourite YouTuber wanted to record with me, I did the natural fangirl thing and squealed with joy. And if you know anything about fangirls, you know that our squeals are not cute like most unintelligent, gorgeous girls my age. A fangirls scream is part screaming, part dying walrus and part insane person laughing. (If a sane, normal person is reading this, I suggest you run anytime you hear the sound.)

"Are you okay?" My fiancé asks from the other room.

"Physically, yes. Mentally, never," I call back my usual answer to him.

I replied to Lachlan's message as calmly and least fangirly as I possibly could: 'Sure. What's your Skype?' (I was planning on adding fifty thousand emojis, but I thought that was overkill and I would scare him off.)

He replied only moments later with his Skype and told me his friends were about to start a Battledome and needed one more player. I dying-walrus-squealed once again.

I nearly tackled my office chair and smashed my computer by rushing to load up Minecraft. I added Lachlan on Skype and waited giddily to hear my fellow Aussie.

"Hello?" His voice asks.

"Hi!" The word came out to high pitched and quick, but it was taking everything in me to not squeal once again and faint.

"You must be Hanna."

"And you must be Lachlan."

"That would be me," he said with a chuckle in his voice. "So do you know how Battledome works?"

"It's not like I've watched it fifty times or anything," I said sarcastically.

"Okey-dokey-al-a-smokey, I add you to the group call."

And that brings us to now. I'm about to play my favourite game with my favourite people and I'm desperately trying not to explode or pee my pants. (It wouldn't be the first time.)

"Hello?" I asked once I was added to the group.

"Hello," nine voices replied all at the same time. (By replied all at the same time, I mean, they all said completely different greetings and at close to the same time.)

"Hi, I'm Hanna," I told the group nervously.

"We know. Little Lachy told us alllll about you," BajanCanadian's voice says.

I could feel my cheeks turning bright red. (I prayed my fiancé wouldn't walk in and question everything about my mental insanity and why some I had never met was making me blush like a lobster.)

"Ok, I can explain," Lachlan defends. "I had to tell them a bit about you. It's not like I told them every detail about you."

"Sure Lachlan..." the voice of Rob-a-dob-flob says.

"Don't worry about it," I tell Lachlan. "I'm kinda flattered to have a stalker."

"Uh-I-ah," he stutters trying to come up with an excuse.

"I'm just teasing," I tell him as I giggle away. "Let's just play the game before Little Lachy embarrasses himself even more."

My little joke brings a chuckle from the boys and I'll admit, I feel awkwardly proud of myself. I guess when you record by yourself and know nothing about your fans, you have no idea if people find you funny or not.

My team was made up of TBNRfrags, BajanCanadian, NoochM, Vikkstar123, and of course, me. The other team was CraftBattleDuty, Woofless, Jerome ASF, xRPMx 13 and TBNR Kenworth. Long story short, my team blew themselves up. Ok, I blew them up, but still.

"So you're from the Gold Coast?" Lachlan asks after the others all left the call.

"Yeah, well technically I'm out of city limits, but so I'm kinda in between Gold Coast and Brisbane," I answer as I rub my palms on my thighs. "You're in Brisbane?"

"Yup. Lived here all my life."

"No way! What school did you go to?"

We talked for three hours. It started with where we lived and ended with our common disliking of pineapples. That's where it all started. My insane fangirly side got buried underneath genuine friendship. We recorded together all the time. Sometimes with The Pack and others. Sometimes it was just us.

"Took you long enough," Lachlan greets when my computer finally lets me join the call.

"Hello to you too." Let's just say I'm not too happy that my computer hates me.

"Hey Hanna," Vikk says.

Along with Lachlan, Vikk and I, there was Rob, Mat and Preston.

"Hurry up and join the game," Lachlan whines.

"Hold on to your butt," I tell him as I join the server. The plan was to do a 3 vs 3 Lucky Block battle in an Adventure Time themed map.

After making the rules clear so anyone (*cough* Lachlan *cough*) didn't cheat, we separated into two calls according to our teams. Unfortunately for Vikk, he got stuck with Lachlan and I. Yay ping.

Apparently my luck in real life was carried over to the game. The first block I broke dropped both Vikk and I into a pit of lava.

"Well GG," Vikk said as he typed it in chat and sank through the cob webs to our death.

"How does it feel to be on the winning team?" I ask him.

He simply sighed while I laughed at his misery.

When we respawned, Vikk kept his distance as I broke my second block. Stone tools. At the end of our allotted time to get gear, I ended up with a Lucky Chestplate and Bow, diamond everything else, a few potions, and a lot of deaths to my name. Hopefully my gear would make up for my lack of skill. It didn't. I was the second to be eliminated from the game. I would have been first if I didn't accidentally blow up Lava P with a Lucky Block. Jerome ended up being killed by Vikk with a flame bow and Lachlan hit the ground to hard when he tried to ender pearl. At the end, Rob and Vikk duelled it out. Although it was a pretty even match, Rob won.

"Who's idea was it to use Lucky Blocks?" I asked at the end.

"Lachlan's," Vikk answers.

"Thought so..."

"Oi!" Lachlan says in retaliation. "It's not my fault you suck."

"Woah. Shots fired."

"Aw. Your first fight," Vikk teases.

"Vikk, stop denying your love for Lachlan. Everyone knows it's real," I joke.

"Is your guys' ship name Lachna or Hanlan?"

"They both sound like STDs to me."

"WOAH WHAT," Lachlan exclaims as I cackle at my own joke.

It was a bright summers day here in Australia. There wasn't a single cloud to be seen. It wasn't boiling hot, but it wasn't chilly either (it's actually never chilly here so...). It was just perfect. Although it wasn't the weather that made the day great, it was the text I got from Lachlan.

_Hey Hanna, I'll be coming your way if ya want to meet up :) _

Ipressed my lips together as the corners tugged themselves into a smile. I had never met Lachlan face to face.

"What are you grinning about?" Josh, my fiancé asks. He was leaning casually against the kitchen counter.

"Nothing," I answer simply.

Josh had jet black hair and green eyes. He didn't have a chiseled jaw or rugged looks, but he was devilishly handsome in the mysterious way. His arms, like mine, were covered in tattoos. He had little words and symbols intertwined with a tribal pattern. His ears and left eyebrow were pierced with small silver loops. We both had that punk look that made people judge us on sight, but neither of us do drugs or listen to scream-o music.

I had brown eyes so dark they were almost black. My hair reached down to my ribs with a set of straight across bangs. I was naturally dirty blonde, but it was dyed pitch black, turning to red and then orange as it reached the ends. Most of my tattoos were related to my many obsessions that include, but are not limited to, video games, anything Marvel related and a million different bands no one has ever heard of. In terms of piercings, I had a nose ring, one ear with five and the other ear with three and my belly button. Apart from the "punk" look, I wore a pair of red rimmed glasses because I was as blind as something without eyes and contacts and I didn't get along. Ok fine. I'm a hipster. Deal with it.

"Do you mind if I take the car?" I ask Josh.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm meeting Lachlan in town." Josh knew about Lachlan. He just didn't know that I used to have a huuuuggggeee fangirl crush on him.

"Mind if I come?"

"Is your protective boyfriend side acting up?" I ask with a smirk, standing right in front of him.

"Maybe," he smiles as his hands slip around waist and behind my back. He tugged me close as he grinned down.

I give him a quick kiss on the lips and smile. "Sure. You can come."

I changed from my pjs to a pair of grey jean shorts and a Two Door Cinema Club t-shirt. I did my best to cover up any blemishes with my NYX foundation and draw a set of matching wings with my Kat Von D eyeliner. After a million coats of mascara, the worst eyebrows ever and some rose red lipstick, I was ready to officially meet Lachlan.

We pulled up to the coffee shop at exactly 2:00, but I had to take five minutes to keep myself from freaking out/murdering someone with my joy. Once I could finally walk like a normal human being, I lead the way into the cafe with Josh right behind me.

"I'll have a mocha," I tell Josh over my shoulder as he joins the line.

Sitting in the far corner by the window was a boy my age with messy blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes. Lachlan.


	2. Chapter 2

I think that one of the most important things in life is being honest with yourself. I know exactly how I look to others. I was slightly above average height wise. I had the prefect figure thanks to my ridiculous metabolism that I kinda resented. My butt was on the small side, but my breasts were decent size compared to the rest of my body. I had a button nose that was slightly fat and wide eyes. My skin was a perfect golden shade of tan thanks to the small trace of Filipino on my mom's side. In other words, I didn't look at all like the nerd I really was, especially with all the tattoos, piercings and hair dye.

"LACHLAN!" I blurted uncontrollably when I saw him. The busy cafe fell dead silent as everyone turned to face me. "Sorry," I winced.

I could tell it was taking everything in Lachlan to not explode with laughter as I sat down across from him.

"Oh Hanna, I didn't see you there you were so quiet," he mocked.

"Yeah I'm not one for attention," I replied as I rolled my eyes.

Josh set my coffee in front of me and looked between Lachlan and I.

"This is the guy?" Josh asked me.

"Yeah."

"Hi, I'm Lachlan," he says and he stands up ready to shake Josh's hand. My boyfriend takes a moment to size up Lachlan. Lachlan was ever so slightly taller, but considerably skinnier.

"Hey, I'm Josh, Hanna's fiancé. So if you're trying to get in her pants, it's not going to happen," Josh says matter-of-factly.

"Uh, I'm not looking to get in-" Lachlan tries to defend himself, but he got cut off.

"Well I don't feel a threat. See ya," he said as he left. He planted a kiss on my cheek as I pressed my lips together in one part embarrassment, two parts unhappiness and thirty parts 'why in gods name did I bring him?'

"I swear he's not normally that much of an asshole," I tell Lachlan.

"So fiancé? I didn't know you were engaged." Lachlan seemed a little out of his element compared to when I first sat down. The question was, was it Josh's comment or the fact I was engaged that brought this up?

"Yeah I don't really advertise it since its been two years and no wedding planning," I had a tendency to ramble about this particular aspect of my life. "But anyways, how's life?"

"Same as always I guess. You?"

"Well I no longer have a sleep schedule so that's new." Ever since I started recording with Lachlan and The Pack, I realized that the timezone was not in my favour.

As we talked, Lachlan loosened up. Once we finished our coffee, we wondered past the shops that line the outskirts of Brisbane. We took a quick selfie together and since Lachlan was feeling cheeky, he put "#lachna" in the caption. I have no idea how much time we spent together, but at some point he drove me home.

"That's your house?!" Lachlan exclaims in astonishment.

"Yup."

"The whole house. Not just a suite?"

"The whole thing," I confirm.

"Holy crap," he says in awe.

Josh and I lived in a huge house. I guess it would be classified as a mansion.

"May I ask what Josh does for work?"

"He's in a band, but he hasn't had a gig for about month. My parents send me good sized cheque once a month."

"Damn."

"Come on in, I'll give ya a tour."

He followed me to the front door which was roughly three metres tall and made out of solid oak. In the foyer, the floor was tiled and a crystal chandelier hung above us. To the right was a spiral staircase leading to the second floor. To the left was the set that lead to the basement. In front of us was the kitchen which had granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. The kitchen lead straight to the living room. We had two leather couches and a recliner. Above the brick fireplace (which was never used because this is freaking Australia) was where the TV was mounted. On either side of the fireplace were doorways leading to the bar. Shelves made of maple wood held Josh's alcohol collection. Back in the living room a glass sliding door opened up to the balcony. On the other side, was the diningroom, which was rarely used. Down the hallway, was a bathroom, the laundry room, and a guest bedroom. The wooden floors and cabinets had all been imported.

Upstairs, was our bedroom. With the softest grey carpet the world has ever seen, a king sized bed, our walk in closet and another bathroom, I could spend all day in here, if it wasn't for the next room. The next room was the nerd room. Any posters, game consoles, computers and computer parts, video games and every other gift from God was in this room. Of course, it was the biggest room in the house. A second balcony branched out from this room and had a prefect view of the pool.

In the basement, was where my non-nerdy obsession took place. The basement was also the garage. Our BMW SUV, Lotus Evora and Audi R8 where all parked in front of their respective garage doors. Along the far wall was a tool box and my babies. And by babies I mean motorcycles. I had a Kawasaki KLX 140, a fire red Ducati and a Yamaha that matched the one my older brother rode. In the opposite corner was a room that was lined with acoustical foam and Josh's various musical instruments.

"You ride a dirt bike?" Lachlan asks to clarify.

"Yup. Why?"

"You don't really seem coordinated enough..."

"Wow. Thanks."

"Does Josh ride?"

"He did. But he quit once he realized he couldn't beat me," I answer with a smug smile.

"That's not what happened!" Josh defends as he appears at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh really?"

"You had a better bike."

"And then we switched and I still kicked your butt."

"Whatever. What's he doing here?" Josh asks, jabbing his thumb at Lachlan.

"I'm showing him the place, you got a problem with that?" I sass.

"Uh yeah. We got an appointment in the bedroom."

"You know, I think I'll show myself out. It was nice to finally meet you," Lachlan says. We walked up the stairs together. I gave him a quick hug and he left.

"You're disgusting," I tell Josh.

"What? It's been awhile," he says as he tugs me close. He sloppily tries to kiss me but I stop him.

"Yeah no," I say as I shove him away from me. "You were a complete asshole to Lachlan."

"So what? It's not like I'm going to see him again."

"He's my best friend. You'll see him again."

"Yeah well, I don't think you should see him again.

"First off, you're my boyfriend, not my father. Second, you're the one I'm engaged too."

"I'll tell you what. We'll have some fun tonight and I'll be nice to him."

"I'll send you the IP in a sec," Rob says.

"Thanks," I say as I log onto Minecraft.

I spawned by some buildings and I fountain. "Wait. Isn't this the How to Minecraft spawn?"

I had joined a call with Vikk and Rob thinking we would recording some parkour.

"Yup. Welcome to the server," Vikk greets. "Of course since you joined late it will be kinda hard to find resources so me and Lachlan were thinking you could just join the Salty Lagoon."

"Aw, thanks guys." I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. This kind of thing only happens in my dreams.

"Now to business," Rob begins. "We have a bit of trolling to do at Lachlan's."

"Ohhhh. Tell me more."

"Well, we're going to give him a little gift and then burn it."

I helped the two of them start building a wool statue in Lachlan's basement. We had the legs done when we saw, "CraftBattleDuty joined the game."

"Shift, shift, shift!" Vikk ordered. "Hanna, go distract him."

I sprinted upstairs to where Lachlan's character was. I shifted up to him and punched. Then he joined our call.

"What's up?" He greets.

"Not much. Vikk and I are just working on the rink," Rob lies.

"Nice, nice. Whatcha doing in my house?" Lachlan punches me.

"Um...ten TNT in the house?"

"No, you didn't," Lachlan started heading down the stairs.

"Nahhh, I'm kidding," I say quickly and he stops. "Help me build a house."

"Ugh. Fine."

Lachlan and I went into a separate call.

"Hey guys," he started his intro. "It's Lachlan here with Hanna and welcome back to a brand new episode of How to Minecraft. Now, this cheeky little sandstormer joined the server today so we're going to be nice and help her get started."

"Yay," I added because I had nothing else to say.

"Where do you want to build it?" He asks me.

"Well, Vikk was telling me I could join the Lagoon, but this place is kinda crowded."

"We could put you closer to Merome Island. There's plenty of room there."

"Hmmm. Ok."

"What do you want to make it out of?"

"Let's start with birch for now."

He gave me a stack of birch planks. "You start laying it out while I'll get more."


	3. Chapter 3

Josh has written dozens of songs, but none for me. I have read the lyrics to all of his love songs and not a single one is about me. His lyrics always describe the girl as a blue eyed blonde, never a brown eyed nerd. I never confronted him on the subject and I never will. I'm afraid of seeming stupid and oblivious if I am wrong. I am afraid of the sting if I'm right.

Josh and his band, Awake at Night, had a gig tonight. It was at a pub in downtown Brisbane. Since I never missed one of his shows and I got lonely in the crowd, I was dragging Lachlan along with me. Lachlan showed up at my house three hours before the gig, as planned.

"Are you coming to set up?" Josh asks, walking down the stairs. He stopped mid-step when he saw Lachlan.

"Maybe. Do you need help?"

"It depends if Luke remembers how to plug in his bass." It was a running joke among Awake at Night and their groupies that all started when their bass player, Luke, had completely forgotten to plug in his bass and amp.

"I'm pretty sure you and the boys would never let him forget."

"So are you coming?"

I turn to Lachlan, "Are you okay with being put to work?"

He shrugs, "Sure."

"The boys will be here in a sec," Josh informs me. He looks at my sweatpants and t-shirt. "I suggest you get ready."

"Ok, don't kill each other," I tell them as I scamper up to the bedroom.

I had just closed the door when I heard Josh talking, possibly arguing. _This can't be good_, I thought. I ignored every possibility my mind imagined. _Josh is just being protective of me_.

I slipped on a loose white tank top that read "He's the only one who knows the words," a pair of black leggings and some strapped sandals. I had already done my makeup for when Lachlan showed up so I only had to do a few touch ups. Despite my hatred for them, I put in my contacts. I topped off my look with some dangly gold earrings.

When I came down the stairs it was pure awkwardness. Josh and Lachlan both silently checked me out. Thankfully, the three other members of Awake at Night walked in the front door.

There was Luke the bassist. He always wore a grey beanie over his gelled hair. He had small stretchers in both ears, green eyes, the perfect amount of stubble and light brown hair. He was slightly shorter than the rest of the band, but he was by far the best looking.

Isaiah was the drummer. His hair was shoulder length and always greasy. He had the perfect blonde hair and blue eyes. He was a total womanizer and had hit on me multiple times, even when Josh was right beside me. I have yet to see him go home alone after a gig.

Sam did back up vocals and keyboard. He had the kindest heart out of the crew. He had dark brown skin and thick black hair. He and his girlfriend Amy have been together for as long as I've known him. As far as I know, they have the perfect relationship.

"Hey Hanna Banana," Sam greeted joyfully.

"Hey Sam, what up?" I smile.

"Not much my lady."

Noticing that there was a silence, Lachlan piped up, "I'm Lachlan, a friend of Hanna's."

"Nice to meet ya," Sam says, all smiles. "I'm Sam. This is Luke and Isaiah."

After some small talk, the band left to load all the needed equipment into the back of our SUV. They all piled in and drove off.

"Audi or Lotus?" I ask Lachlan.

"Ohhh...uhhhh..." He ponders. "Audi."

"Good choice. Can you drive a stick shift?"

"Ahaha...no."

"I guess I'm driving then."

I slide into the drivers seat and jammed the key into the ignition. Lachy scooted in beside me as the engine roared to life. I purposely took the long way into Brisbane just so I could make our ride a little more enjoyable.

"So what kind of music does Josh play?" He asks.

"It's mainly alternative with a bit of Indy."

"Do you play any instruments?"

"Josh tried to teach me guitar once, but he gave up."

"What about singing?"

"Hah! I sound like a choking peacock."

When we arrived at the pub, the band had already done the heavy lifting. I just had to remind them where all the cords went. The place started to fill up about half and hour before the music was supposed to start. Lachlan and I snagged a table beside the stage.

I quickly noticed that Lachlan was completely out of place. The crowd was just like the band and I. Everyone had at least a charm tattoo, a silver loop through their nose, or some unnaturally coloured hair. Lachlan didn't have a single thing that connected him to the crowd. He was a perfectly clean canvas.

They played three originals, covers of Coldplay's In My Place, Imagine Dragon's Gold and Cold War Kids' First. They followed with two more originals, both were a little more on the heavy side. Finally Isaiah, Luke and Sam filed off the stage, leaving Josh.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight," he begins. He was perched on a stool with his acoustic across his lap. "In the crowd, as always, is my beautiful fiancée Hanna." He extends his hand to where I'm sitting. He has never mentioned me in one of his shows before... "I want to dedicate this song to her. She listened to this song nonstop when we were first engaged." Mess is Mine by Vance Joy, I recall. "This is Skinny Love by Bon Iver." I've listened to that song only a few times...

He says one last thing, "January twenty-fourth."

January twenty-fourth? Then it hit me. He set a date for our wedding. I'll admit I'm not happy that he got the song wrong, but HE FINALLY SET A DATE.

He strums out the first chords. "Come on skinny love just last the year.

Pour a little salt, we were never here.

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my.

Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer."

"Tell my love to wreck it all.

Cut out all the ropes and let me fall.

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my.

Right in this moment this order's tall."

"And I told you to be patient.

And I told you to be fine.

And I told you to be balanced.

And I told you to be kind."

"In the morning I'll be with you.

But it will be a different kind.

I'll be holding all the tickets.

And you'll be owning all the fines."

"Come on skinny love, what happened here?

Suckle on the hope in lite brassieres.

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my.

Sullen load is full, so slow on the split."

"And I told you to be patient

And I told you to be fine.

And I told you to be balanced.

And I told you to be kind."

"And now all your love is wasted.

And then who the hell was I?

And I'm breaking at the britches.

And at the end of all your lines."

"Who will love you?

Who will fight?

Who will fall far behind?

Ooh, ooh."

He plays the last few chords and I can't hold back my giddy smile. I glance at Lachlan to see his reaction to the song, but his mind seems to be somewhere else. He was staring down into the foam of his beer looking worried.

The band took a bow and listened to the applaud of the crowd. They walked off stage and each went their separate ways. Sam went looking for Amy, Luke for a drink, Isaiah for some random girl and Josh for me.

He held his arms open and grinned. After half jumping, half falling out of my seat, I leapt in to his embrace.

"January twenty-fourth?" I ask to make sure.

"Yea, does that work for you?"

"It's prefect." Actually, I would have preferred earlier, but better late than never. We kiss.

The next few days were a bit odd. I kept trying to record with Lachlan, but he was either offline or didn't want to record anything. So I settled for helping Vikk and Rob with their burning statue on the How to Minecraft server.

When we had finished building the replica of Lachlan's Minecraft skin and set up the dispensers with fire charges, Rob left. Leaving me and Vikk to talk.

"Have you heard from Lachlan lately?" I ask him. I had begun to worry he was avoiding me.

"Yea, we did a parkour map yesterday. Why're you asking?"

"No reason. I just haven't gotten the chance to talk to him lately."

We sat in silence for a moment, before I broke it, "Do you need to record anything else today?"

"I'm supposed to join Preston and some others for some Micro Battles. You want in?"

"Sure," I agree since I had nothing better to do.

A little while later, Preston joined our call.

"Hey guys," he says.

"Hi," I reply.

Seconds later, Pete joined. Followed by Jerome and Lachlan.

We all logged onto Mineplex, formed a party and joined a Micro Battles game. Lachlan hadn't said a word at this point.

"Who's taking the intro?"

"I got it," Lachy volunteers.

"3...2...1..." Preston counts down.

"Hey g-"

"Hey guys it's Little Lachy here," Jerome interrupts in the worst Australian accent ever. "I'm with Hanna Banana, Icky Vicky Sticky, Petey Hutt Junior, Plebston and the most amazing Bacca. Oiy fish, fish, fish."

"Wow, thanks Jerome," Lachlan says in pure salt.

I ended up the yellow team with Jerome and Vikk. Lachlan was on green. I went straight for him.

"Nonononononono," he panics as I keep hitting me. _CraftBattleDuty was slain by ReigningFire._ "NO! DAMMIT HANANA."

I, of course, laughed at his misery. After three rounds, I had killed Lachlan twice. Every game, I went straight for him. Why? Because I'm a woman and women like to make men suffer instead of telling them when we're mad. (**Don't get mad. It's just a joke.)**

The next round, we ended up on the same team.

"HAH! Now you can't kill me!" Lachlan screamed.

"Dammit," I mutter to myself.

"Ok boys, and Hanna, kill off all the others so we can battle at the end," Preston plans.

"On it," Pete says, killing a member of the red team.

It was just us and one other guy left. Unfortunately, the other guy tunnelled underground. Lachlan went on the hunt for him, which helped me come up with a plan. Since Lachlan was underground, he couldn't tell what was above him. I gave him directions until he was under the lava that divided the teams. I told him to wait while I broke the block above him and the other boys snickered.

"No, no! NO! IM SICK OF IT. FOUR OUT OF FIVE GAMES. DAMMIT HANANA. IM OUT. I'm out."

Lachlan left the game and the call. The other boys were killing themselves with laughter while I sat there with a silent smile. Preston did the outro.

Afterwards, I tried calling Lachlan on Skype. He didn't answer. So, I called his phone. I got the voicemail. Fed up, I stormed down to the garage and got in the Lotus. In my frustration, I forgot to grab the keys which didn't help my mood.

Once I could finally drive off, I went straight to Lachlan's house. I walked in, unannounced.

"Oh, Hanna," his mom stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, sorry, is Lachlan here?" I could tell she wasn't very impressed with me. I wouldn't be either if some random girl barged into my house at eight in the morning demanding to see my son.

"I believe he's recording at the moment," she says, still shocked.

"Ok, thank you." I bound up the stairs and down the hall to Lachlan's room. I fling the door open and slam it behind me.

"What the hell?!" He screams in surprise.

"Why aren't you talking to me?!" I demand.

"Look, Hanna, I just think we should spend a bit of time apart," he says defensively.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Josh talked to you. Didn't he?"

He doesn't answer.

"I knew it! I told you not to listen to him. He's a jerk."

"If he's a jerk, why are you marrying him?"

"Because I happen to love that jerk. I've loved him for the past two years and I will continue to do so."

"I don't care about this threats Hanna. I just don't want to ruin your relationship," he explains.

"Oh Lachlan," I soften. "You're not going to ruin my relationship. You're my best friend."

His mouth twitches into a smile.


End file.
